Quotation
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“To understand political power right, and derive it from its original, we must consider what state all men are naturally in, and that is a state of perfect freedom to order their actions, and dispose of their possessions and persons, as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man.”
John Locke · Empiricism · Early modern · 1689
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is a starting point for politics: to see what political power is, look at the natural condition, which is freedom to order one's actions and dispose of one's person and possessions without leave from another, inside the law of nature. A competing reading drops the clause about that law and hears a permission to do anything. Section 6, already partly quoted in this library, says the state of liberty is not a state of licence, and that no one ought to harm another in life, health, liberty, or possessions. The sentence is the opening of chapter 2. Freedom and equality are the two features he names. Political power has to be derived from people who start there, not from a natural superior. Asking leave is what nature does not require.
Did John Locke really say this?
The library’s label is Well attested. Locke's own English, with capitals modernised in the same way as the other Second Treatise sentences in this library. The bounds of the law of nature are in the sentence. It is not a claim of licence, which he denies in §6.
Where it comes from
Second Treatise of Government, chapter 2, §4
Approximate date: 1689.
How to use it
A landlord in Cardiff who treats a tenant's evening as something that needs his permission, beyond the tenancy they both signed, is claiming a leave the sentence denies in the state of nature and that only a limited political power could create. The sentence does not abolish house rules that were agreed. It says the baseline is freedom within a law, not dependence on a will. Confusing those two is how petty authority sounds like government. Locke's original is the test.
A mindset reading
When someone calls a restriction natural, ask whether it is the law of nature's bound or another person's will. The habit is to keep the middle of the sentence, the bounds, and the end of it, the independence. Quoting only 'perfect freedom' is how the line is used to bless licence he explicitly rejects two sections later.
Understand the philosophy
The Second Treatise begins its real argument in chapter 2, after he has said he will derive political power from its origin. The key terms are the state of nature, perfect freedom, and the law of nature. Section 4 states freedom and then equality. Section 6 puts the law in charge of that freedom. Consent and property, later in the book, are built on this picture of persons who are not born under another man's will.
- freedom
- power
- society
FAQ
What does it mean?
The mainstream reading is a starting point for politics: to see what political power is, look at the natural condition, which is freedom to order one's actions and dispose of one's person and possessions without leave from another, inside the law of nature. A competing reading drops the clause about that law and hears a permission to do anything. Section 6, already partly quoted in this library, says the state of liberty is not a state of licence, and that no one ought to harm another in life, health, liberty, or possessions. The sentence is the opening of chapter 2. Freedom and equality are the two features he names. Political power has to be derived from people who start there, not from a natural superior. Asking leave is what nature does not require.
Did John Locke really say this?
Well attested. Locke's own English, with capitals modernised in the same way as the other Second Treatise sentences in this library. The bounds of the law of nature are in the sentence. It is not a claim of licence, which he denies in §6.
Which work is it in?
Second Treatise of Government, chapter 2, §4 Approximate date: 1689.